Reads with Scotch ’s Comments (group member since Mar 14, 2008)

Reads with Scotch ’s comments from the Axis Mundi X group.

I have had an eventful 14 days.

I had the state police called on me.
I had a near death experience.
Lost about $500 bucks on a failed attempt to improve something near and dear to me.
F**King tourist!
I am Nick and this is my sad story.

When I left work a day late last hitch I should have recognized the bad omen. The last 14 days has been riddled with woes. After assembling my “toy” Trebuchet” and experiencing great success with it, I decided to scale up. My wife had a problem with me “playing with it in the yard, because “You’re going to knock the house down.”

So I loaded up my 10 foot tall testosterone growth up, and drove out to a remote location for some tests. On about my seventh fling I noticed I had an audience. A motor home had stopped on the side of the road and was filming me and my glorious machine of mayhem in action. After a few minutes there was a line of motor homes there watching me… Fucking tourist.

So with my audience I continued. Making slight adjustments to this and that. Fling, adjust, tinker, fling. One of the onlookers decides he wants an interview with this strange un-bathed dirty, mosquito bitten, Alaskan mountain man. Right as I am pulling the release pin I see this moron step pretty damn close to the area where the arm passes through. I shit my pants and time freezes.

In my mind I see this moron getting caught between the legs by the launch pin, sailing through the air (on a timeless journey that only Charrisa has balls big enough to try), before bouncing off his oversized motor home. The law suits, the retirement fund spent on this morons hospital bills… Time resumes as if nothing were happening. I have to use a sledgehammer to knock the E-break. I hear the horrible sound of wood snapping. I see the big eyes of a fucking terrorist... umm tourist. I feel air rush by me as it is forced out of its previous spot by the falling trebuchet. Yes folks at this time my anger is rising. I must have looked something crazy because this dumb shit turned and ran all the way back the crowed of out of state gawkers.

I assess the area. (2) Broken vertical support masts (1) bent axle (1) splintered fulcrum arm. The E-break I installed that morning had made it about halfway through the axle before it snapped. (I will have to fix that next time)

Now it is my turn to do an about face and march over to this *%!@#! I am greeted by OOOooo’s and ahhh’s a few mumbles of how cools that “was”. My eyes locked onto the only milk white face in the small crowed. I didn’t even get a chance to say anything to the fuck.

Apparently one of these out of state ass wipes decided what I was doing was illegal and called the state troopers. They did not specify what I was doing by saying “there is a guy shooting an ancient peace of field artillery in a wide open field located on public lands.” Oh no! That would be too accurate. Whoever called said “There is some guy shooting artillery near the road at mile post 67 Chena Hot Springs Rd.” No I was not arrested. A few tickets were handed out to the motor homes for blocking a public roadway, and obstructing the flow of traffic. The Trooper (Trooper Van Hunik) Came over and talked to me a bit while I was loading my fallen friend back onto the trailer. He seemed pretty interested in it so I explained to him what it was, and how it worked. He asked if we could set it back up for another shot. So I told him how the ass had stepped into the path of the fulcrum so I had to engage the e-break, subsequently destroying the machine.(Trebuchets are not made to stope once they start to fire) He seemed just as pist as me about this, and wanted to go get the guy. But I didn’t know which motor home it was and they were already leaving.

Oh I forgot… When the axle broke one of the counterweights came free and landed about 18 inches from me.

So this morning I saw on the news that an amendment was suppose to go to vote this morning. It didn't and I am not going to get into the political spin as why that happened. What I want to do is open up my insider point of view to my friends here.

(Disclaimer I can only speak with certainty about the North Slope, Most of the oil producers in the US are owned by the same companies so by association I can assume they are in the same boat but not 100% on that.)



1) The Oil Comapnies "DO" hold leases on a lot of land. However they only have rights to the oil not to drill. I don't think I can articulate this properly so I will use an anolgy that kinda shows what I mean. Back when "pot" was legal if you had a tax stamp, but the government didn't produce the tax stamps thus making it impossible to have it legaly. Well the same thing is happening here. Between the restrictions placed on the oil producers by legislators and pressure groups everything is tied up tight.



2)Explore explore explore...this will take years!(not that this is really an excuse but...) This may be needed for the off shore production but again is not nessecary here on the slope. The slope has been well mapped and surveyed. In fact the Big 5 (BP, Mobile, Shell, Texico, Encot) Have their equipment standing by. Ready to go. I have it from someone in the know that we could have oil from the new fields(on the slope)to market in six months, at capacity in nine.



3) with all this new oil we will also need 2 or 3 top notch refineries. We have all the peices of one sitting in the tundra right now waiting to be put togeather.( again they can not put it togeather because of pressure groups and legislators.) The refinery sitting in the snow is a state of the art facility that is enviro friendly and can out produce refineres 3 times its size. This facility would be operating at full capacity in 13 months, Operational at reduced capacity in 9.





If we were to open up the North Slope we would increase our domestic oil production by 23%. Being that at the moment we only produce 8% of our needs this is huge! That would help tremendously. It would give consumers breathing room for a few years until the rest of our domestic resorces can be brought to market. I think we can realisticaly support 85%-90% of our needs in house.





***Side note***

Something to think about: this would also move a large part of global "resources" out of the ME. Huge power shift, Now Oil is in great supply in a stable enviroment. Hmmm speculation prices drop. Oh yeah and we produce oil responsably. When I was in Iraq there was oil seeping out of their pipeline at every junction. At first I thought this might have ben in some way related to the ongoing conflict but after speaking to our local translators we learned that it has always been that way.

Which one... neither really. I have problems with them all. I’m taking the lesser evil and going with McCain. I really disagree with him on a lot of things, but I think he has the “proven” ability to work across party lines. That is the most important trait for this election. The stalemate must end, and I think he can pull it off. Obama is a pretty polarizing person.

Of course I could be totally wrong.

I seriously think this dude has you all snowed. He says nothing that has not been said a million times before by a million other politicos. His is new to the game so maybe he isn’t as corrupt as the others. However there are his views and friends. I can not get past the people he associates himself with. Downplaying their importance and relation to his judgment is ridiculous.

What are some things you love about yourself, things that make you a good person to know/ being alive/be around, what have you? What are some things that you hate about yourself? Things that you wish you could change but seem to be unable to follow through with.

What I love about my self…:
My ability to listen to people even though I know we are not reading from the same page. That I am a good husband and provide a comfortable life for my wife and spoil my puppy. If one were to hand me a pallet of tooth picks glue and aluminum foil I would hand them back a space worthy shuttle. Even though some may not see it I am pretty giving. My aggressive approach to tackling problems even though I am in over my head, my successes in this department have taught me that even being ill equipped to handle a situation doesn’t mean failure is inevitable. Success is always hiding right behind failure; you just need to push through it.

What I hate about myself: The most dominating fault to me is my mastery of the English language, or rather the lack of. This has been a larger obstacle then any other in my life. I’m fast to anger (0 to mushroom cloud in two seconds flat) my stubborn nature… I guess it is a German thing. I wish I were more artistic, I can not sing, play instruments, write, paint, draw, nothing zero zilch zip. (My wife makes up for this, she has impressive artistic qualities in all mentioned above.) I can not stand my family. I have written them all off with exception to my father and grandmother.





Works in progress:
My at times overbearing “constructive criticism” which often masks my good intentions.
Spelling and grammar.
Temper.
Learning. To me learning is a journey not a destination. Too many people seem to just go for a piece of paper then stop. Where is the love of knowledge today?

I think this article shows that the meaning of Democracy is starting to sink in. A drop in the bucket but a start. 5 years to reverse generations of repressed people not too shabby in my book.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/0...

I think this says a lot.

I just don't think he is electable Amanda. It has nothing to do with his skin tone, or name. It has everything to do with his lack of judgment, personnel friends, his naive nature (which I guess can be grouped together with judgment) and his politics in general. Obama repesents a tight scope of Americans. I think this country has had enough of these extreme left/right politicos. It is time for some middle of the road people. Our government is in a deadlock, nothing is getting accomplished.

I know Obama talks about uniting the nation and to bring change but I don't think he can pull it off. His personnel views are too "progressive". When you get into the "progressive" and hard core "conservative" group things tend to get difficult. I for one have had enough of it. From the left and right. For all his talk of being different he is the same as them. He is a Politian. He is a Politian far left of center mass.

I know everyone likes to think their personnel views are the mainstream but the truth is most Americans are neither progressive nor uber conservative. It has been a long time since the average American has been represented in our government.

It is not just his lack of experience that scares me.
I think there are judgment/naive issues as well. Wright, Aryers (sp?), his statements about immediate withdraw from Iraq and only going back if we have to… are you serious?

That and he still has not verbalized any plans.

Oh ok he is going to use diplomacy…. To what end, what does he hope to accomplish, what is he willing to give? Cross posting here but I don’t think we should give anything.

I hear a lot of generalizations from him, and that scares me. But Again I think it is a moot point, because I also think he is un-ellectable. Even though many of you here love the guy a lot more people can not look past his “friends”.

I don't think Billary would take the second seat. She will probably wait 4 years and try for the big seat again. Then again I don't think Obama will have the big seat either.


OBAMA'S IRAQ ACHILLES HEEL

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

Published in the New York Post on June 3, 2008.

Printer-Friendly Version

John McCain needs to go on the offensive against Barack Obama over the Iraq war.

Polls tell us that his support for the Iraq invasion is one of voters' chief problems with McCain. Obama's chief credential, on the other hand, is his early, consistent opposition to the war.

Even with recent successes in Iraq, the war remains a heavy negative for McCain. But he can turn that around; here's how.

When it comes to Iraq, Obama is most comfortable living in the past. He wants to endlessly replay the day when he castigated the war as unnecessary and cooked up by White House political types and ideologues. He's far less comfortable talking about Iraq now, and downright antsy when it comes to discussing the future.

It's a lot easier to oppose a policy than to figure out how to replace it.

Countless Americans remain deeply pessimistic about Iraq; recent successes get judged in the light of past, false optimism.

But that also means voters have no problem envisioning disaster should we pull out our troops too soon - the possible slaughter of pro-American Iraqis, plus police and government officials; perhaps a takeover by Iran; a comeback by al Qaeda and other terrorist operatives.

The key is to force Obama to face these dangers - and explain what he'd do.

* He could deny the possibilities - and come off as a naive, wishful thinker; most unsuitable in a president.

* He could waffle - but then McCain would press. If Obama kept it up, voters would see indecision or evasion - evidence he's in over his his head on foreign policy and national security.

* He could say that he'd use diplomacy to handle the situation - but Americans are rightfully skeptical about the chances for a diplomatic resolution, especially if the United States pulls out its troops.

As Frederick the Great said, "diplomacy without force is like music without instruments." McCain could always press and ask, "What do you do if diplomacy fails?"

* Which brings us to the inevitable answer he must give: I will go back into Iraq with troops.

But that begs more questions: Would he keep adequate force in the region? If not, it could take six months of convoys to go back in. And isn't it inevitable that a new invasion would lead to many more casualties than just staying there?

This gambit narrows the real differences between McCain's and Obama's Iraq policies. Obama basically has to say that he'd keep our troops in the region. Voters can be excused for not seeing much difference between keeping them in Iraq and in Kuwait - especially when pulling them even back to Kuwait makes their return to Iraq seem almost inevitable.

You can't run for president looking in the rear-view mirror and reciting what you said six years ago. You have to offer a plan.

McCain has an easily understood position: Stay in and win. As Iraq improves and Obama is forced to admit the possibility - in Americans' view, almost the inevitability - of ongoing involvement, McCain's solution will appear as much the better one.

Go To DickMorris.com to read all of Dick's columns!

If you are sitting next to someone who is an infidel follow these instructions:

1. Quietly and calmly open up your laptop case.
2. Remove your laptop.
3. Start up
4. Make sure the guy who is annoying you, can see
the screen.
5. Close your eyes, tilt your head up to the sky &
And start praying
6.
Then hit this link

I think Varmint has a bloodhound sense about this Charrisa, let him be;)

Donna said: Here's my problem. (Not directed at you Amelia) Every time we go another round on this one, we end up talking about twelve different things without being at all specific about the relationships between them. It would really help if we could reduce the conflation a bit. Are we talking about al-Qaeda? The Taliban? Iraq? The leaders of the Middle East? The people of the Middle East? Muslims in the Middle East? Muslims worldwide? Hate groups? Fundamentalism? Terrorism? What? Yes these things are related but rolling them into one big ball doesn't further the dialogue.

<<
Jackie, what are we suppose to talk about? What are we going to negotiate with? They can not even get along with themselves but we are going to come to some miracle agreement that circumvents their hatred for all things west, and live happily ever after.
To say I would be outrage if we were to give them anything is an understatement… Well no I take that back, I would give them some chips ahoy, but that is it. I wouldn’t even sign on with giving them your cookies because that would be too nice. They would have to settle for the crappy factory baked goodies.

Umm... Jello wrestling... anybody?

I actually like Donna's response.



Sorry Charrisa I didn't have time to read your whole post, I've got to run.

I agree with you KD. I think there was a thread a few months back where I ask about a peaceful way. I have never herd one that didn't entail "Looking" the other way. I am not willing to do that.

So the “terrorist president” is forgiven his crimes because he is sitting behind a desk? I don’t think so, He should have tried sitting behind the desk before he started promoting killing people. Once he started killing people that changes his dynamics for life.

I don’t think I ever said anything about killing the common people of the ME. It is the leadership that is off balance. They ARE crazy, and we DO need to confront them. Eating cookies and talking about our differences isn’t going to change their minds. IMO killing them is the best way to get our point across that we are not going to tolerate there actions.

Already their numbers are falling; the people of the ME are starting to turn on these extreme organizations. I think they see what many of you here can not. That being, as un-popular as this war is, there is still enough wind in the sails to continue to dominate whatever their local hate.org can muster.

For real success we need to prove to the good people of the Middle East that we are not going to leave them high and dry again. That has been our biggest obstacle. They don’t trust us. We have left them hanging before. Couple that with the massive propaganda campaign that started they day after liberation and it is no surprise that things turned out this way. But the tide is turning; people are starting to put 2 and 2 together. (When was the last time an American/coalition person killed someone I knew, when was the last time my neighbor killed someone I knew.)

The best way I can see to gain their trust is by removing the threat. The threat to their livelihood; the threat to their lives, and the threat of their lives going on just as they have for the last couple of thousand years.

I can agree with that Donna. I don’t think I said attack Pakistan. I do believe we should be running mission into Pakistan territory though. They are either not capable of handling the situation, or un-able. That doesn’t mean I want to go and blow them up. I am stating that we need to really follow the enemy where ever they go. No breathing space. As always Donna you bring powerful debate to the table that makes me think about my stance. I think I will stay on my boat for a bit longer, not so much because I am convinced I am completely right here but because I have not herd a better plan of action, that brings these whack jobs to justice.

David: We were greeted as liberators in Iraq. Then there was a flood of foreign fighters that seek out former personnel form the previous regime. Which scared the shit out of everyone else. This cause the "civil war" that is now going on. One side trying to get back in power and the other is too afraid to let that happen.

Ok granted I didn’t articulate that vary well. I don’t know if this will be any better but…

Iran: This is a government that is nothing more then a terrorist government. (This is also the nation that is fueling the fight in Iraq, much like Cambodia, and China in previous conflicts.)
Pakistan: They are supposed to be our allies but I don’t think they have the capabilities/or are unwilling, to deal with Al Qadia.

Sally, I am not talking military conquests here. I am talking about decisively crushing any organization/government that supports any terrorist movement.

As far as energizing the Middle Eastern men to fight with the terrorist groups that is a failed policy. Their propaganda was brought to the table too soon and the masses are already turning away from Al Qaida and other organizations like them. They are sick of the fundamentalist, but are too weak or scared to face these organizations. Add in all the rhetoric by the American democrats, and the Euro countries about pulling out right now, then sit around scratching your heads and wonder why they are not stepping up to the plate for themselves. THEY ARE SCARED! Talking to criminals of this level is ridiculous we should be killing them, not sending them flowers.

thats right rub it in.

The difference between the IRA and Al-Qaida is Al Qaida doesn’t want a peaceful resolution. They want their way. I honestly think we have been too soft on them.

The last time we pulled out all the stops was in WWII. Since then we have had a marginal victories in Korea, Viet Nam and Afghanistan/Iraq today. It is always the same story, Korea: the enemy is in China, were fighting in Korea. Viet Nam: The enemy is in Cambodia, were fighting in Nam. Afghanistan: This has just been neglected, but still the enemy leadership is in Pakistan. Iraq: We face a corrupt government, and enemies on both sides, one of which is involved in open warfare against us and yet we sit on our hands and people tout that we should be talking to them. “ANORT” I have an idea, if Iran wants Iraq so bad let’s give it to them, we can wipe the line off the map and just keep marching east. As far as their “powerful” military (I can hardly keep the smirk off my face) the same military analyst said the same crap about the Iraq military what a lot good it Saddam. Fear mongers be damned. Our military is designed to cripple an enemy and driver their dicks into the dirt, too the point where they are begging to talk to the politicians. That is when diplomacy comes into play. We should stop holding back, it is time to take the gloves off and give them a jolly good stomping.

Why because politicians like to think they can talk bad people down. Sometimes people are just bad. This is an enemy without boarders so why are we fighting with boarders?